The 3 Most Worthwhile Ways to Invest In Your Career

When you invest in your career, you’re investing in yourself, and ultimately that’s the best way to get your employer to in turn invest in you.

Unfortunately, not all ways you might consider investing in your career are going to be worthwhile. When you’re thinking about your options, particularly if they’re a significant financial investment or even a big investment of time, you want to make sure you’re strategic.

You want to look at investing in your career just like you would any other investment, and ensure you’re going to get the returns you want and need.

Below are some worthwhile ways you can become an investor in your own success.

Get An Advanced Degree

The American workforce, particularly Millennials, are at an all-time level regarding education. Almost 9 out of 10 adults in 2015 had at least a high school diploma or GEO, and nearly 1 in 3 of adults had a bachelor’s degree or better.

What this means is that you not only need your bachelor’s degree to stand out to employers in many cases. It’s now important to go for advanced degrees, but before diving in, do your research and make sure that the pay after you obtain that degree is going to be sufficient and provide you with a strong ROI.

Go for a Certificate

If you don’t want an advanced degree, likely because of the investment of both time and money it would require, there is good news. You can still get ahead and invest in your career by taking certifications.

Online education is an excellent opportunity to get certified in various areas and either be more appealing to future employers or get a promotion. The great thing about certificates is that they’re specifically designed to teach in-demand skills.

For example, you could take Hadoop training, and big data engineers have average salaries ranging from $119, 250 to $168,250.